Sunday, August 19, 2012

Recover-Ease is a product that I have used for years. Especially when I'm training for a longer event but I also use it after any hard or long training sessions. You can find it at Wicked Fast Sports Nutrition. I think I got a sample years ago in Texas at a race and found that it really helped in my recovery. I use it after pretty much all my workouts and the other place that I found it beneficial was DURING Ironman Louisville. Amino Acids are brain fuel and help defend against what is called "Central Fatigue". (Read this article on LiveStrong) - and I found that during the run in long events I would sometimes start to get that "What am I doing this for?" feeling. Taking Recover-Ease during the run helped snap my concentration back and get a focus on what I was doing. I swear by this product! A lot of my friends in Texas have also used this for years.

Here is some information from the Wicked Fast Sports Nutrition site. Go to the website for even more information on Recover-Ease and how it works.

After reading the information if you'd like to try it you can use the code: "ginger" for a 20% discount.

Why Recovery is Important

Did you know that following a marathon, triathlon, or significant endurance event, as many as 60%-70% of participants will suffer an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) or over-training injury?

Getting sick or hurt or simply suffering from poor performance is often a direct result of your training regimen (and inadequate recovery).

Getting sick or injured is no way to optimize your training or racing performance.

Recover-Ease is a new way of thinking about post-exercise recovery. The formula combines 8 natural nutrients into a research-proven and patent-pending blend that gives your body what it needs to repair damage following intense exercise.

Specifically, Recover-Ease delivers a potent source of fuel to immune system cells. The patent-pending blend is taken up rapidly by immune system cells, which then are able to repair tissue damage - particularly in the muscles and lungs.

Research studies and "real-life" users clearly demonstrate that using Recover-Ease following exercise results in fresher legs and lungs, higher energy and mood, and overall faster and more complete recovery.

Elite athletes and age-groupers alike understand that adequate recovery can be the difference between injury/illness and optimal performance. Those who recover better enjoy higher levels of performance.

At the American College of Sports Medicine’s 2004 Annual Scientific Meeting in Indianapolis, Recover-Ease was shown to significantly improve recovery in endurance athletes.

Study results were presented to show that following extreme endurance competition, supplementation with Recover-Ease led to:

52% reduction in Fatigue

51% reduction in Muscle Soreness

38% increase in Energy

24% boost in Mental Function

20% boost in Immune Function

16% increase in Overall Mood

5-day faster return to normal training

Wicked Fast Sports Nutrition also makes a product called Energ-Ease, I am not as familiar (learning about it now) with it but there is information on their site about it as well, it also qualifies for the discount when using the code "ginger".

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Last week I went to see how I was doing so far this year in the USAT (USA Triathlon) Rankings. Went through all the 50-54 year old (sigh...) women and nada... no Ginger Spansel! What's up with that??? I know that my results were in there somewhere because I'd received emails after each race telling me that I'd qualified for Age Group Nationals.

So I sent an email asking where they were and got an interesting response. I learned something new! Don't you love it when you learn something new??

Anyway... my membership is due for renewal on 9/30/2012 and for you to be ranked you must have an active membership on 11/1/2012! Did any of you know this?? You have to have raced in 3 or more USAT races too, but everyone pretty much is aware of this. I also learned that you can still see your races and scores if you select "show unranked" and "show race details".

**okay... now that I've gone to the link I see the note about being an active member on 11/1/1012 but it's never occurred to me not to renew and I don't think I realized that I never looked up my rankings until after I have. Strange. I'm usually more observant than that... old age must be catching up with me!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Through the network of my fellow triathletes (specifically Delinda!) on Team Aquaphor I learned of a sponsorship opportunity with The Timex Factory Team! Quite a few of us have gained another sponsor in this team and we're all pretty psyched!! I know I am looking forward to promoting my new sponsor. Oh.. and don't get me wrong, I'm still on Team Aquaphor and will always be Aquaphor Chick!! Below is some background and information about the team in case you're interested in applying!!

The Timex Factory Team was designed to be a complementary program to Timex Multisport Team and built off it's long-standing success. Timex Multisport Team, currently in its 11th year, is a diverse, successful team, of male and female athletes--both professional and amateur--ranging in age from 18 to 57 years old, and hailing from around the world.The Factory Team was launched in an effort to support the large number of outstanding athletes that exist in the multisport community. Hundreds of multisport athletes apply to be a part of the Timex Multisport Team each year but only a few make it. The Timex Factory Team will give more athletes the opportunity to represent the Timex brand in addition to growing the community of Timex athletes who are dedicated to achieving their racing and training goals."We have to turn down hundreds of very qualified applicants every year. Now, with the Timex Factory Team, we are able to offer a spot within the Timex family to so many more," said Keith Meyer, Manager of Event Marketing & Sponsorships at Timex. "We are eager to grow our community of amazing athletes to a point where you can attend any race across the country and find a few Timex Team members at the start line."Factory Team Info:• Selected athlete will receive the following:• Timex Ironman digital sports watch plus discount for additional product purchases• Timex Factory Team Uniform - Exclusive to team members ($80 voucher to order online)• Timex technical running hat and visorObligations of Timex Factory Team athletes:• Team due of $100• Must wear Timex sports time piece during all racing and training• Upload photos from races and training to social media outlets on a weekly basis• Submit race results within a week after race dateThe Timex Factory Team application is available online and will be available throughout the year. Athletes will be selected based upon their athletic achievements and their community involvement. Applicants of all disciplines are welcome to apply. Those selected will receive products from Timex and will be given exclusive rights to wear the Timex Factory Team uniform developed by Champion System.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Aquaphor Healing Ointment is an awesome and extremely versatile product and now they've gone above and beyond and made one of their products even better!!

Aquaphor Lip Repair was released last year and I immediately loved the stuff! And this year they've added Sun Protection Factor 30 to the formula!!! On the Aquaphor US Facebook page they asked us what we would like to see and a lot of us spoke up and said we would love to see Sunscreen added to the Lip Repair! I don't know if this was already in the planning or they listened to their customers but either way I'm really happy!! Aquaphor Lip Repair differs slightly from original Aquaphor in that it is enriched with Shea Butter, Vitamins C and E, and soothing Chamomile essence.

The only place I've been able to find the original Lip Repair around here has been Target and so I checked online to see if they would be carrying the new SPF product - yes!!! In stock and I was on my way to nab some!! If you don't see it in your store ask them to stock it!

I have a problem with my lips burning - mostly in the early season and if they do and I couple it with stress (like the first long bike ride of the season) I end up with a sun or fever blister on my lip. Nice. So I keep SPF 30 in a little lip container on my bike. It's called a ZeBug and I have one on both of my bikes. Very handy for filling with your favorite lip sunscreen. I got my first ZeBug back in the 1980's as some swag in a race packet and several years ago went searching to see if they were still being produced. The owner was really nice and happy to hear how I liked his product. I've ordered a couple times because I keep giving them away to my friends! They go really well on your bike handlebars or a watch band - check out the website!!

One other thing to report! After my teammates on Team Aquaphor saw my photos from the swim meet they all wanted to know where I got my swim cap. I got mine from a teammate a couple years ago when we both swam the Lake Waccamaw 4 mile open water swim. She brought me one of hers to wear. Kacie was sponsored by Aquaphor as a swimmer so they'd sent her a couple caps. I went searching for swim caps online and found SwimCaps4Less. For an order of 100+ caps the silicone are only $6 each and that price includes artwork setup and delivery. We had about 60 people on the team order caps and topped the 100 mark. They turned out great and now Aquaphor Team Management is considering adding them to our race gear for next year!!